Blinding Shadows
by ThisSentenceIsALie
Summary: Nico and Will have been demigod-napped by two unknown deities and Camp Half-Blood want them back. Five unclaimed demigods set out to find them. With Hades' threat to wipe out half-bloods looming over them, can the questers find them? What if they don't even want to be found?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 is here! Yay! This one introduces three questers. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HoO, etc, etc.**

The Unclaimed Cabin was much larger than the others, with high limestone walls and a domed roof. Recently, Jordan O'Reily, one of three cabin councillors, had decorated it to impress Rosemary Hill, the sort-of-daughter of Persephone.

If the cabin looked like Jordan thought it did- an Italian style garden wall with roses and passion flowers climbing up the stone- then Rose would be hers in no time.

Then again Rose probably didn't have time to notice Jordan's three weeks of redecorating, what with her tour guiding the Roman focus group and all. Romans could be incredibly inconvenient when they wanted to be.

Speaking of Romans….

"And this is the Arts and Crafts tent," a low, musical voice floated towards Jordan's bench by the kiln. In her peripheral vision, she could spy a shock of white hair followed by a group of five uncomfortable looking Romans come through the tent flap. "It's usually manned by the Hephaestus, Vulcan to you lot, cabin. But when they're busy, the satyrs, or fauns, head it. Unfortunately most of the statutory tools are being used by the- Oh, hey Jordo!"

The Egyptian girl arm jerked, accidently knocking the kiln heat to maximum. She screamed out a curse, something she wouldn't normally do, and pulled her arm out of the pot just before the flames rose up. "Ow ow ow!"

One of the Romans, a short Mexican girl with slanted, blue eyes, grabbed the fire extinguisher from where it was rolling in the paint section. She squeezed the trigger, Jordan spun out of the way to avoid a jet of foam.

"What? You're afraid of a little fire?" A Roman, probably an ex-supporter of that scrawny Pointy Max guy, scoffed. Only when he looked away, did Jordan send her best death glare in his direction.

"Listen here, sunshine," Rose jabbed a dark finger in his face, her Welsh accent becoming more and more prominent. "If you're not gonna play nice, you'd better get out of my Camp."

"Our Camp," Jordan corrected tentatively. Though it was times like this, when Rose defended her, that she felt like she had a chance.

Rose turned to her, as if only just noticing Jordan standing there with an extinguisher foam moustache. "What? Oh, yeah. Our Camp," she spun back to the Roman, glaring with poison green eyes. "Go back to your boss, you're a waste of time."

"As are you."

_Punch!_

Rose clutched her hand to her stomach and let out a long gasp. She faced the other Romans who were staring at her in shock, apart but the short girl who put out the fire was hiding a little smile. The boy who'd insulted her was doubled over on the floor. "Come along, you miserable lot," Rose groaned, cradling her fist. "Lots to see."

On the way out of the art tent, she turned to the short girl, "do all of you have metal stomachs?"

* * *

><p>John Talbot slammed his book down on the tree branch, hoping that the gaggle of annoyances below would take the hint. The sound was unheard over their giggling.<p>

"Have you _seen_ what Holly's wearing?" The rest of the group _hmmmmed_ in harmony.

One girl, Alison Something-or-other, took her hair out of her mouth. "She's wearing orange."

.An older girl with a wiry build hidden under her loose designer cardigan frowned at Alison. By the almost reverent looks she received, she would be the leader. "What?" She raised a pencilled eyebrow, under the pencil she had hardly any eyebrows at all.

Alison hastily backtracked, a sign that she wanted the approval of this group. It wasn't surprising, most of the group were her family. Her boots were only buttoned halfway, she would've hurried to be first out of the Aphrodite cabin to impress her siblings. She also had biro marks on her fingers, the longest one her right hand from between her thumb index finger, indicating that she had been writing (left handed) before being rushed out of her cabin. "I mean, the orange doesn't flatter her skin tone."

Pencil-Brows smiled at her, but the one end of her mouth curled down. "Uh, huh. It makes her look like a jack-o-lantern," she turned to her audience of five, "am I right?"

Over the giggly agreements, John was seriously considering dropping _The Return Of The King_ by J.R.R Tolkien on their heads. The only reason he didn't was because he hadn't finished it yet.

"You know what?" Allison leapt to her feet. John leaned back into the trunk of the tree, putting his book on his knees and steepling his fingers. "You're- you're- you're _horrible_!"

John decided to call the boy that spoke next Vaseline because of his shining face. Vaseline let out a laugh, "we're only trying to help!"

John tried to tune out the rest of the argument, turning back to page 135, but he failed miserably. It hadn't even been three minutes before he climbed back down his tree, careful not to twist his perpetually sprained foot. He wasn't staying anywhere near that group for anything less than a million dollars.

* * *

><p>Things were bad even <em>before <em>Alex asked Nadie where Will Solace was.

Alex Vitale was another demigod in the Unclaimed family. From the moment she entered Camp Half Blood, she'd been infatuated with the Apollo cabin and the Apollos- narcissists that they were- accepted her as a surrogate sister. She spent more time with the Apollos than with the Unclaimed, so Nadie wasn't particularly fond of her.

She pulled her coat tighter around her- winter was coming and Nadie had been feeling the chill for over four months- and motioned for Alex to start again.

"I haven't seen Will all day," Alex ran a hand through her hair. "He didn't show up for his 9:00 shift, I was there until his shift ended with his soda, and I asked Kay if she'd seen him. She said that he's been on the track field with the Hades freak all morning. So I went there and neither of them were there."

Nadie blew on her hands to warm them up. "You've told Chiron haven't you?"

Alex looked down, blonde hair hiding her face. "You don't get it. Will is _gone_!"

**So, chapter one, introduced three important characters. What do you think?**

**Also, this is really weird, I was in the supermarket the other day, when the shop started playing Gangnam Style. The beat was really loud, and soon enough the whole shop was covered in people shopping to the beat. Literally nobody could move without doing it to the beat. It was terrifying.**

**Also, if your character is OOC, tell me so I can fix it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two is up! I am very overexcited! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I would hug you, but that would be creepy (and impossible).**

**Who hates peer pressure? I do. I (idiotically) auditioned for the school production thing, and now I have to take part in it. I DIDN'T KNOW LEARNING LYRICS WAS THIS FREAKING HARD!**

**And why do the shops never have the thing you actually need? DAMN YOU AND YOUR LACK OF FLOUR!**

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure that Rick Riordan wouldn't rant over the internet about pasta flour and Anything Goes. I don't own PJO/HoO.**

When Drew Winters walked into the council/games room, he thought he'd seen it all. Clarisse La Rue defending an Aphrodite kid, Mykyta threatening Seth with imminent strangulation, Jason Grace creating a Campwide power-cut. Drew was pretty sure it couldn't get any weirder.

And then came Wednesday afternoon.

The first thing that hit him when he walked into the room, trying to keep himself as small as possible, was the fact that it was completely quiet. Quiet apart from two voices, one trying to prove a point, the other drawling and bored.

"I'll prove, scientifically and without doubt, that you are a nerd!" Connor Stoll, son of Hermes, jabbed his finger in the face of the white haired boy beside him.

"And how are you going to do that?" That was Malcolm Drake, son of Athena, a person who was the smartest person in any room and knew it. He glared down his nose at the long finger in front of him.

"Every time you say something nerdy, I'll write it down. Then you, brother dearest," he turned his head to Travis, "can be my independent source and decide whether the data backs up the theory."

Malcolm laughed shortly, his silver eyes raised to Olympus. "That's an unsound experiment on so many levels. Travis hardly counts as an unbiased source, you have no set laws defining what a nerd is, and you haven't even formulated an if-then hypothesis. You'd be laughed out of any serious scientific gathering, voiding all of your results."

Connor whipped out a crumpled piece of notepaper and a blue gel-pen.

Malcolm's eyebrows rose into his hairline, "I can't bel-"

A quiet voice spoke next, but it was easily heard over the councillors who were watching Connor and Malcolm like a tennis match. "Could we start, please?" A short girl in an SPQR shirt and corduroy shorts stood up and shifted her feet a little. When it was silent, she retreated back to the custard-colored sofa where the Romans sat bolt-upright. "Thank you."

During that silence, Drew had managed to park his backside on a white garden chair without being noticed by anyone apart from the Unclaimed kid with the huge green eyes. That boy, Joe or Jeff or something gave Drew the creeps.

"Shannon's got a point," a Roman with features that seemed to sink into the middle of her face made a nonspecific hand gesture. "You _Graeci_ are so slow."

"I never-" Shannon protested, looking up from where she was squashed beside the Camper who'd been their tour guide. She didn't look to thrilled about her seating arrangements, sitting frozen with tapping fingers.

"Romans," someone sniffed disdainfully completely ignoring Shannon. "So uptight."

Drew flinched, the Greece vs Rome feud was going to get someone _else_ in the infirmary, but he said nothing. He'd only been claimed for a couple of days, and considering who his mother was and what she did- Drew shivered- it would be best to lay low for a while.

"Calm down," Chiron, who'd just ducked under the door with one of the Unclaimed councillors, said mildly. From waist up, Chiron looked like a regular middle aged dude with a scruffy beard and greying hair, but his bottom half was the body of a snowy-white stallion. He was much taller than the average human, about six and half foot, and none of the doorways were large enough for him.

The girl next to him was someone that Drew wouldn't really look twice at. She was built like an extremely short twig with long, sandy ringlets pulled back into an austere ponytail. Drew was pretty sure that her name began with an N or an M.

All at once, the other councillors froze, like little kids who'd been caught with their hands in the biscuit tin. Several campfires ago, Chiron had announced that there were more people in the infirmary than there would be if the Hunters were there. And that was _bad_.

Personally, Drew didn't understand the point of all this fighting. Like, everyone had already preened their feathers or done the Haka or whatever, so surely people could kiss and make up, right?

"So," Clarisse took a serrated knife out of her boot and twirled it expertly in her hand. Her reddish-brown eyes glared out from under short lashes. "Who's trying to kill us this time?"

Drew didn't know that someone's face could literally 'darken', but Chiron's had a pretty good try. "I don't know."

"Wait, what?" Someone from the corner of the room squeaked.

Chiron made a non-committal _hmm_, his eyes seemed to be a million miles away. "William Solace and Nico di Angelo are missing." He paused so the words could sink in. Clarisse dropped her knife, the creepy Joe/Jeff kid looked like someone had slapped him, Connor's gel pen scraped across his paper. Drew couldn't see his own expression, but he was certain it wasn't flattering

Chiron continued, but he didn't seem to be paying attention. "Lord Apollo is distraught, he says he can't sense his own son. As of yet, Lord Hades has remained silent, but has sent a messenger. It says," he pulled a tiny, silver scroll out of his pocket, "_connect the dots_."

**O**

Inwardly, Shannon was panicking big time. Someone had _ever so kindly_ shoved her into the Greek tour-guide and she now had a mouthful of frizzy blonde hair. It was up her nose, in her eyes, tickling her ears- had this Greek ever heard of a hairbrush?

She rather doubted it.

Biting into her thumbnail, she tapped the Greek on the shoulder, careful not to disturb the centaur while it was talking. (Was it rude to interrupt something this important? Probably). The Greek girl turned around and fixed Shannon with a glow-in-the-dark green gaze.

"Sorry, uh," Shannon paused, not remembering the Greek's name. "Um, could you please move your hair?"

"Call me Rose," she grinned, showing off incredibly pointed canines- even though she was scowling at nothing. Rose lifted her jacket sleeve and peered down it, checking her wrist for a hair bobble. Finding none, she plucked off her beaded Camp necklace and wrapped it round the mane of white hair clutched in her other hand. "Better?"

Shannon smiled slowly, Rose seemed pretty okay for a Greek. "Thanks." Both girls turned back to the centaur. Having missed only a small chunk of the meeting, they were able to piece together what they'd missed.

"If anyone saw Nico or William last night," the centaur said, "we need to know."

All of a sudden the room went cold. All of the shadows in the room gathered to one corner, they swirled around before weaving the rough shape of a man. Someone stepped out, he was tall and thin with shoulder-length black hair. His pitch black eyes bore holes into Shannon, even though he was facing the centaur.

"Where is my son?"

**Weird note: Check. Angry papa: Check. 'Suspense': Double check.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter (even if I cringed when reading it over), and leave a review down below.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wassup? So chapter three is here. Warning: It gave me a cringe attack (but I cringe reading all my writing, so it could be on par with Shakespeare). Have fun reading my genius (I wish).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HoO.**

Will Solace woke up inside a penthouse apartment. The room he was in was the greenhouse, a dome made completely of glass. There were climbing plants clinging to a lattice, he didn't know what they were called, but they had five gold petals and a _really_ long stem.

His arms felt heavier than they should, he could still move them, but they definitely couldn't hold his bodyweight. With a small smile ('cause _positivity_!), he sat himself up and scrambled onto his feet.

Now standing, Will could see the greenhouse door. He tried the handle, surprised to find that the door swung open. What he saw almost gave him a heart attack.

It wasn't that he recognised the apartment, it wasn't the fingerprint-smeared acrylic table, and it _definitely_ wasn't the familiar battered door that led to his old bedroom.

It was the man on the custard-coloured sofa, and Will didn't have a great feeling about him.

He was completely silver. Everything from his hair to his phone to his white-washed jeans, they were all some shade of silver.

When the man looked up from his (silver) watch, his smile was like a million-watt lightbulb. Will blinked to get the spots out of his eyes, he'd only seen a smile like that a couple of times and it was always from his- "dad?" He asked before he could stop himself.

"Do I look like Apollo?" Silver leaned forwards, (silver) eyes gleamed with something Will didn't like.

Will sucked air through his teeth, taking note of when Silver used his dad's name. "Kinda? I mean, you've got the whole better-than-you vibe going on..." He trailed off as the Silver's glare made an appearance.

Silver murmured something insulting under his breath and wrote on his hand with a (silver) Biro. He then tossed the pen onto the table, where it overshot and landed at Will's feet. Will picked up the pen and twirled it in his fingers, even with his shaking arm it managed to look as nonchalant as he'd hoped for. He seated himself cross-legged on a hanging chair with the pen still twirling. For some reason, he was proud of that.

"So... whoever-you-are," Will started, tucking the pen into his jeans pocket. "Why are you in my house?"

Silver held up a finger. "It's _my_ house. And anyway, it's not like I'm moving anytime soon."

"Wait," Will said, unravelling his legs and standing up, ready to grab for his slingshot at a moments notice. "Not moving? Who the Hades _are_ you, and how did you know about Apollo?"

"You're a sharp one, aren't you?" Silver's eyes gleamed, giving Will the sudden feeling that he'd just sealed his fate. "Are you ready for a history lesson?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued, "it started when you demigods defeated my sister last year."

"Your sister?" Will frowned, "you mean Gaea, right? Doesn't that make-"

"Annoying isn't she," Silver interrupted. "Now, being the intelligent, sophisticated genius I am, I figured that Gaea wouldn't want Olympus to fall by anyone else's hand. Why do you think she was defeated so easily?"

"Hang on, _you're_ a-"

"It was because she was preoccupied," answering his own question, Silver propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. "Gaea knew she was going to be beaten, so she used her last power to tie us-"

"Primordials!" Will finally found the right word. "She tied you to my house?"

"_My _house," Silver corrected. "I managed to reach this lovely apartment before I was trapped. But the story doesn't end there, Mr Solace. It ends with Nico di Angelo."

**O**

"Where is my son?" Hades repeated.

Chiron and Clarisse shared a look. Clarisse made a head gesture towards Hades as if saying _He'll find out eventually_, Chiron shook his head, like, _Tact, child, tact!_

Jordan could feel herself sinking into her chair, making herself as small as possible. As she looked around, she noticed that everyone else was doing the same. Hades' socks must really stink.

She froze as Hades' gaze fell on her- _could gods read minds?_ Jordan let out a breath when Hades looked away.

"_Answer me_!" The shadows in the room started flickering, as if sensing their master's anger. Jordan instinctively glanced at Rose, to make sure she was okay. She really wasn't.

Rose's face was as pale as it could get, her blonde hair was puffed up like a scared cat's. Her joints had gone stiff and pointy, even though Rose wasn't a bony person. She was hunched over and Jordan thought she could see something sticking out of her back.

Chiron was having a hard time staying calm, he seemed to blend in with the white wall behind him. "I thought you knew."

"Knew? _Knew_!" Hades' eyes looked like they were about to pop out. "Why would I be here if I didn't know?"

Chiron held out the tiny piece of paper with Hades' message on. Hades, dangerously slowly, took the paper and scanned through it, his eyebrows sinking lower and lower. His hand started to spark, the room getting warmer and warmer until black fire erupted in Hades' hand, burning the note to ashes.

Jordan jumped back with a squeak. That fire was going to reach her. She needed to get out before the god really lost his temper.

Hades looked up from his hand with a snarl. "You have until the equinox to return my son to me, or, so help me, I will hunt down _every_ demigod until you are _extinct_." And with that he dissolved back into the shadows.

Jordan ran out of the room, on a beeline to the canoeing lake. She jumped in fully clothed.

John stared up at the dome ceiling of the Unclaimed cabin. Ever since Hades left, there had been an unnatural amount of light in Camp. It was now eight o'clock at night, the moon had been out for ages, there were stars out and yet, it was still daytime.

But that wasn't the most worrying part. Nobody cast a shadow. It was like the god of the Underworld had taken all the darkness with him.

On his bunk, there was a whiteboard that the Athena cabin had lent him. John had recorded all the weird things that appeared at Camp after Nico di Angelo and Will Solace disappeared. He'd just finished scrawling 'daylight hours- far too long' and 'shadows- Hades'. But it didn't make any sense.

Why would Hades do that, he'd already given his warning? Was Hades actually able to get rid of night? Isn't he just giving Zeus a reason to punish him?

John sat upright.

So what if it wasn't Hades?

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed- I really appreciate it. And no, it's never too early to ship Shanrose/Shanmary/whatever.**

**Drop (no, not literally. You'll break your PC) a review in the box below!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'M SO SORRY!**

**I know I said I wouldn't abandon this story, but my attention span would put a gnat's to shame. I've also got exams this year, a school production (if anyone EVER mentions the words 'Reno' or 'Sweeny' to me I will LITERALLY tear their ears off) and I got bored.**

**Please don't kill me.**

**Anyway, this story has been adopted by the fabulous The Hitchhiking Ghost, so your characters still exist (please don't kill me).**


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